Believe it or Not – Only 1 Per Cent Indians Pay Income Tax

Only 1 Per Cent Indians Pay Income Tax – Over the last six years, the growth in the total income tax collected has slowed down considerably.

Taxpayers account for just about one per cent of India’s population, but tax outgo was over Rs. 1 crore for as many as 5,430 individuals, as per the latest data disclosed by the government for assessment year 2012-13.

As part of a transparency drive, the government has made public direct tax data for last 15 years. Data for individuals has been published only for 2012-13 assessment year, which shows taxes for income in financial year ended March 31, 2012.

A total of 2.87 crore individuals filed income tax returns for that year, but 1.62 crore of them did not pay any tax — leaving the number of taxpayers at just about 1.25 crore which was close to one per cent of the country’s total population of about 123 crore at that time.

The tax outgo was less than Rs. 1.5 lakh for a vast majority of nearly 89 per cent taxpayers (over 1.11 crore). Their average tax payable was just about Rs. 21,000, while the collective amount stood at over Rs. 23,000 crore.

The three individuals in the top-bracket of Rs. 100-500 crore paid a total tax of Rs. 437 crore — resulting in an average tax outgo of Rs. 145.80 crore.

As many as 5,430 individuals paid income tax of over Rs. 1 crore. Out of this, the tax range was Rs. 1-5 crore for more than 5,000 individuals, resulting in a total outgo of Rs. 8,907 crore.

As per the overall data, total income tax collections rose nine-fold to Rs. 2.86 lakh crore in 2015-16, from Rs. 31,764 crore in 2000-01.

The data further said that the bulk of individuals who filed returns for the assessment year 2012-13 earned an annual salary between Rs. 5.5 lakh and Rs. 9.5 lakh.

The total number of individuals who paid income tax in 2011 was 4 crore; that number climbed only to nearly 5 crore for 2014.

For the year 2014-15, Maharashtra collected the maximum direct tax (which includes corporate tax and individual income tax) of Rs. 2.77 lakh crore, followed by Delhi at Rs. 91,274 crore , Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.

Over the last six years, the growth in the total income tax collected has slowed down considerably. The growth rate in the collection of taxes was nearly 18 per cent in 2010, down last year to about 6.7 per cent.